Service members wanting to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to dependent children must do so before they retire, and their children will need to be full-time college students enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System by age 21.

The benefits must also be transferred by the time the dependent is 23, and the dependent has until age 26 to use them, said Teddi Embrey, a human resource specialist who works in the Education Incentives Branch of the Adjutant General Directorate, U.S. Army Human Resources Command.

Failure to comply with the transfer before retirement and transfer by the time the dependent is 23 are the top two reasons Soldiers are denied transfer benefits, said Sarah Rowley, chief of the Education Incentives Branch. Soldiers sometimes file erroneous congressional inquiries based upon this, she added.

Dependents must take an active interest in college yearly because the DEERS staff regularly checks its enrollment status, and dependents will be dropped from DEERS if they’re not full-time students, Rowley said.

Soldiers interested in transferring Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits to qualifying children start the process through the Education Incentives Branch, Embrey said. They must also be on active duty or a selected Army Reserve Soldier.

“We’re not having many problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill itself,” Rowley said. “It’s with the transferring process and people not getting all the information correct.”

Rowley explained that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs keeps numbers on overall service members who use the GI Bill. Since the transfer process began nearly two years ago, 58,000 Soldiers have transferred their benefits, including National Guard Soldiers, she said.

“Different agencies work the transfer process, depending upon what type of category the Soldier falls into — enlisted, officer, warrant officer, and depending upon career field,” Rowley said.

“We are administrators of the program, but the Department of Veterans Affairs makes the legislation,” Rowley added.

•Not barred for re-enlistment or flagged due to adverse personnel actions;

•Have at least six years of service on the date of request; and

•Have completed a minimum of six years in the armed forces and agree to serve another four years from the date of request.

or

•Have at least 10 years of service on the date of election and not be able to commit four more years due to a retention-control point or mandatory retirement date (MRD) and commit to serve for the maximum time allowed by either the Retention Control Point or the MRD as the date of request, or

•Have served at least 20 years on or before Aug. 1, 2009; therefore, no additional service is required.